Why Marketing Programs Fail – Reason #4

A few years back I was running the marketing for a financial services company. We were in the middle of a mailing and did not see the typical response to the promotion via our web site or service center. We contacted the agency that was managing the promotion for us and they assured us that all was fine – yet we had not seen a single 3602. (A 3602 is the proof of mailing certificate the post office provides). After a few more days of waiting I sent one of my teammates up to the letter shop unannounced. When he got there he found that the entire mailing was still on the dock awaiting a new indicia.

It turns out that the post office rejected the mailing due to a technical violation of the rules. No one told us. The lettershop had hoped to fix the error without telling us. Hiding issues is one of the biggest sins in my book when it comes to vendor performance. Here are some warning signs that mean it may be time to find a new vendor;

There is a lot of turn-over in the account management team.

The company is being sold or bought

They have no available positions (slowing sales) or are always hiring a specialized skill such as programming.

Deadlines are continually missed

It is difficult to get a straight answer from the organization

Your requirements no longer align with the organization

Lastly, to stay on top of vendors you should do a quarterly meeting with them to discuss what went well, what challenges were faced (and how they were handled) and what goal/projects will be for the next 3 to 6 months.